Another week under our belts

Nothing really significant happened on the house last week. At least not much to take pictures of. Then Lana got sick Thursday and that's what I've been doing the last 4 days. Taking care of a coughing grumpy girl. (And Tanner, but thankfully Tanner's not sick. Yet.) 7 days of school and Lana is already sick. Ugh.

The trim guy showed up Thursday and Saturday and started hanging doors and nailing up the trim. Paul finished hanging the siding on the screened in porch Saturday. The power company came out and trenched in our power so now we have power on the house.

This week we have a landscaper coming out to plow the back yard because it's hard as rock and we haven't been able to get the grass seed in. Nice right? We've been trying for 3 weeks to get this done. Gotta love the frustrations that come with building a house.

Our kitchen cabinets should be here Tuesday. Once the trim guy is done then we'll call in the painter. Not counting on the paint happening this week, but it'll be a nice surprise if it does.

Here's to another week under our belts. May this week be more productive than last!

Interior brick wall, entryway stairs, and a driveway!

Some friends of ours in Madison put an interior brick wall in their house and both Paul and I really liked it, so this house we decided to put one up. I am not disappointed. We chose to do a used brick that came from some factory in the south. Not that interesting, but it looks great. They had another brick that I would've chosen just for it's history alone, but it was too dark. The history behind that brick was it came from a factory in Cowpens, SC which was not far from Greenville, SC where we used to live. It was a handmade brick hundreds of years old.




This is the other side of the wall. View from the dining area.



We poured our driveway this week which meant we could finally put in the steps to the house.



So Monday we thought we were going to be able to lay our grass seed, but it was too muddy. Instead we plotted out where we wanted the driveway to go. I knew that I had to keep a close eye on the kids to make sure they didn't fall into the mud. I was doing really well too until I took the kids next door to talk with the neighbors. Tanner went to go stand by Paul, I just assumed Paul would pick him up instead of let him trudge through the mud. yeah, right. I need to stop assuming things. Next thing I know Tanner has fallen hands first into the mud. He picks himself up and he slips and falls on his bum. Paul meanwhile is just standing there watching Tanner get all hysterical because he's covered in mud. Graciously our neighbors let me hose Tanner off so we could go home.

Wednesday we were supposed have people out building forms for the driveway, but they were behind which meant that the concrete had to be delayed. Well, by the time they were ready, it was raining. Then the concrete truck driver demolished our culvert (the drainage pipe in the front part of the driveway...I miss street gutters) and they couldn't finish the driveway until it was replaced. Our grader Wayne, who has just been so nice throughout this whole process, was out there assessing the situation and was up early Thursday morning replacing the culvert and made it possible for us to finish the driveway Thursday afternoon before it rained.

I'm not gonna lie. I'm glad this week is over. It's been an eye opener for me having Lana in preschool 5 days a week. I feel like my week has been extended by an extra 2 days. But I'm glad for the experience because it gets us ready for next year.

Let's also keep our fingers crossed that this fantastic weather we're experiencing will last until Wednesday. We need to get our grass seed down and I could use a better week!

First day of Pre-K 4!

Finally, a non-house post! Lana started Pre-K 4 yesterday. The first day was a meet-and-greet type day. A friend who had worked at the preschool last year had mentioned a couple teachers that were highly recommended and the most requested but I had forgotten all about it until we walked into Lana's class. After a few minutes of hanging out in the classroom the preschool director walks her daughter into the class and I knew the teacher had to be "the best" because if you're the preschool director why wouldn't you have "the best". Lana seems to like her teacher Miss Monika. (She's really a Mrs., but here we call everyone "Miss or Ms.") She has a hard time pronouncing it so we've been working on it. She's also already made a new friend, Gracelynn. When I met them out on the playground there were playing rocks together, which is Lana's favorite thing to do during playground time. (If she has pockets she will stuff them full of rocks. Once she even stuffed them into her shoe just so she could bring them home.)




All of the pictures I took turned out blurry. I could not get this girl to stand still for the life of me. I finally gave up so I am posting the least blurry pic of them all.




Tanner was okay while we were at school. I had to stay for a lame-o parents meeting while Lana was having class. I understand it was meant to be informational, but most of it was going over the same information that was in the booklets they handed out instead of doing Q&A's or anything else remotely helpful. It wouldn't have been bad except it was difficult to keep Tanner quiet and keep him from throwing things at people. Thankfully my very-nice-soon-to-be-new neighbor was there and helped distract him a bit. Tanner and I were both a bit frazzled by the end and when all was said and done had to take Tanner from the building screaming his head off because he wanted to play with a firetruck that we had to leave in Lana's classroom. Needless to say I will be happy when they start up the car line next week so I won't have to get him out of the car.

Tanner really isn't that bad. Maybe I'm just saying that to convince myself otherwise. But he is so darned cute during his other moments. Like the other night I went to put him to bed. I asked him if he wanted to say prayers like Lana and he went and knelt down by the chair we have by his crib. I helped him say his prayer and the entire time he's looking at me and whispering and at the end even said "amen". I went to lay him down and said "Night, night Tanner. I love you!" and he says "Night, night Momma. Wuuvv wooo!" It completely made my day.

He also loves to read books. He'll go grab a couple books and bring them to you and say "peas, peas, peeeeeeas!" until you stop what you're doing and read them. Thankfully he has these sweet moments to balance those not-so-sweet moments otherwise I might have considered putting him in Mom's Day Out this year.

Invasion of the house flies

Front Entry. I'm so happy with how this turned out. Although the plans call for the outside of the brick arch painted white. Paul and I can't decide if we want to do that or not.



What do you think? White or not? And yes, the brick is still incomplete. We ran out of brick. Again.



Lana playing on her bridge. The kids have really enjoyed playing at the house. I'm not sure what they're going to do once it gets done and all cleaned up.


Lana was mad at me because she thought I was only taking a picture of Tanner. She cracks me up. Here's Tanner giving his squinty cheese grin. He wasn't having a very good day. Most of it consisted of time outs in the car (with the AC on of course).


Paul is a man of many talents. His new one now is electrician. (Thanks for all your help Dave!)


Sheetrock in the Family Room.


Sheetrock in the kitchen/dining area.


You really need to click on this picture and enlarge it to really get the full effect. Since we started building we have had this influx of flies. They are disgusting and horrible and they are everywhere! It is so gross. We hung some fly paper and caught a few, but there were still a ton flying around congregating on things. They really seemed to love the front door.

Sheetrock makes me giddy!

Who knew? I certainly didn't. Especially when I drove up to the house at 10:30 this morning and no one was there working. Then it rained most of the afternoon. Imagine my surprise (and giddiness) when we pulled up at 5:30 this afternoon to measure for the interior doors and they had most of the sheetrock hung.

I am so relieved to not be looking at those skelton-like framed walls anymore. I'm not gonna lie. It was getting a little old.



Back porch.


"The long hallway". Sorry for the dark picture. I'm slowly picking up better photography skills, but sometimes I get so caught up in taking pictures I forget to adjust my settings for different lighting.


Our sheetrockers would've had it all hung today if they hadn't run out of material. They are fantastic. Much better than our last ones.

Seeing the sheetrock hung today renewed my sense of excitement for the completion of this house. I can't wait to finally be living in it and out of this apartment!

House update sans pictures

I wanted to post a house update, but I forgot to take the camera so I'll post pictures later. This week we had the plumber out and he did his stuff, installed the bathtubs, showerpan and water heaters. The insulation guys came out Friday and stuffed the walls full of insulation. The sheetrock will be delivered Monday and we're scheduled to start sheetrocking Tuesday but that all depends on the electric company and when their inspector can come out to inspect the house. Paul finished up his odds and ends Wednesday and Saturday. And I cleaned out all the garbage in the house and swept it out. Lana and Tanner made great use of the dirt and sand by covering every inch of themselves with it.

Coming up this week we should have our large garbage pile in the front yard hauled off, the masons should be back to finish up the outside of the house, the framers will come back to do the screened in porch and a few miscellaneous things, the sheetrockers will be hard at work hanging, taping, mudding (is that a word?) and sanding.

Oh, and we also made a decision on the hardwood floors and tile floors. Now we just need paint and shower tiles to match.

A few house pics

Here's a few house pictures. The mason's had to go do a Home Place job so it took them a little longer, but that's okay, they're almost done. Our HVAC guys were out here this week putting in all the duct work. The plumber started his stuff and should be finished up in the next couple of days. Paul has a furlow day this week which will enable him to get the electrical all tied up and then we can get on with the sheetrock.

A Southern Summer Storm